I've been a lurker on these forums for a couple of months since purchasing a 2000 2.0 Z3 in Aegean Blue, and I thought it was about time I said hello!

I'm in south Manchester (Sharston) if you see me driving around or for any meets etc, I'd love to get involved.

I've only ever owned rovers for my entire driving career (8 in total) scaling up to what was my pride and joy - a Rover Coupe VVC which I cherished. I genuinely thought that the way it drives was about as good as it gets, until I drove this - it quickly set in how good a car could feel on the road

I'm particularly interested in building a high quality sound system in the car, with a custom subwoofer build like many have done where the rear storage boxes are - and plan on doing a step by step build with pictures.

I guess I'm introducing myself now, because of a few issues with MOT failures that I could use some help with:

Rear Brake pipes Nearside/Offside showing excessive corrosion.

Is there anyone in the area who could recommend a good garage who I won't get ripped off with? Or anyone good at doing driveway repairs for these that wants to make some cash?

I've got all the brakes to replace, the front control arms + bushes, tyres, rear shocks and the handbrake to inspect and a couple of other bits - sadly someone let this car slide before I bought it but I'm happy to put in the effort to get it right as it's really rather special.

Welcome from me too
I used to live just down the road from sharston in brooklands. Spent my primary school swimming lessons at sharston baths, then they knocked them down
A lovely looking Z, enjoy your purchase.

Thats the plan g8jka... I'm currently trying to assess whether I should just buy lowering shocks/springs now instead of buying two replacement OE shocks on the rear for the MOT repairs. Can anyone recommend the £200 Pro sport shocks/springs on ebay? or the £200 coilovers? They seem too cheap to be any good - but I certainly can't afford a more expensive set at the moment sadly.

And wheel spacers on the rear? I hadn't thought of that, do you have a link for those?

And thats a lovely Aegean coupe Mint, I was recently in Turkey and couldnt believe how they've nailed the colour on the car to match the sea there. I love it with your white leather as well, Mines boring old cream

Didn't end up using Darren Wood as he couldn't fit me in, but having visited the place I would highly recommend them - proper professional outfit!

I used a mobile mechanic for the brake pipes who spent an entire saturday here, who I would also highly recommend - If anyone wants someone local to Manchester for work like this, I could give you details! (cost me £120 with me supplying both pairs of flexis on the rear)

So I've just picked my car up with its fresh MOT and I couldn't be happier. 2 months of weekend graft to get it through, heres a list of the works done:

rear shockers replaced with refurbished units
new discs and pads for all wheels
new handbrake shoes with new springs etc
new front control arms with ball joints
new front control arm bushes
new front anti roll links
new brake pipes front to back with new intermediate and end flexis to the calipers
refurbished power steering cooling pipe
part work Falken FK452s fitted to all wheels (6mm tread remaining)

... and just a hell of a lot of cleaning and refurbishing of calipers etc.

Went from a 13point fail list and 11advisories, to 3 advisories. ironically one being a slight lift on a track rod end, which was the only component I didnt change over heh, may have damaged it splitting the ball joints, so that'll be next

Welcome TS, fellow Manchester Z3er here, live in the Green Quarter around the back of Victoria.

Sounds like you got a good deal with that mobile repairer, might be contacting you about him if I need any repairs.

There's an Indie BMW garage in the city centre called BM-Tec. They had some mixed reviews on PH forums but I've taken mine there a few times and the owner, Tony, has always been pleasant and knowledgeable. The prices seem to be really good too and a couple of times they've done a bit of extra work at no extra cost.

Darren Wood's get the best reviews in our area but being able to drop my car off and walk to work then pick it up at the end of the day makes BM-Tec perfect for me.